Athletics News

Bogaczyk: An Introduction to

Veteran journalist's first entry on HerdZone.com

HUNTINGTON – The athletic future for Marshall athletics expands by one today.

No, I’m not the 14th school added to Conference USA. That’s still to come, but even though I know the directions to Hattiesburg, I cannot afford the $2 million entry fee to C-USA.

What I hope to bring to Herd athletics is words – and plenty of ‘em, starting in this corner of the worldwide web today.

As the Director of Publications for MU athletics, I’ll be writing news, features, columns and notebooks on the Marshall program for HerdZone.com, as well as work as editor of the Herd Insider. You’ll probably hear me on radio a bit, too.

Hey, I’m getting to share a Henderson Center office with Steve Cotton, the “Voice of the Herd.” Now, the “Pen of the Herd” will be working from the same quarters, and with Marshall’s Assistant AD for Media Relations, Jason Corriher.

That’s a lot of verbiage from one office, and I hope Herd fans and supporters see that as a win-win situation.

My job is a new one just created, and my thanks go out to Marshall Athletics Director Mike Hamrick and Mike Kirtner of Kindred Communications, the force behind the Insider publication. They stepped up and wanted to do this.

When I first talked to AD Mike about the job, he said the program “needed to do a better job getting the words out on what we’re doing.”

The good thing for me is that I love to write and report as much as opine. The hope is to be informative, compelling and even thought-provoking.

And there’s be plenty to write about as Marshall’s program forges ahead, whether it’s with the Vision Campaign and pending construction of an indoor practice home and new soccer stadium, C-USA expansion developments and a potential Mountain West tie, facilities, revenue, Big Green fundraising, academics, ticket sales, compliance, athletic administration, Herd alumni in the pros …

Should I go on? Suffice it to say there’s a lot more than the games people play.

I promise you’ll read about the coaches and student-athletes in Olympic sports as well as in football and men’s basketball. If there’s anything I have learned in more than 40 years in sports journalism, there are good --and intriguing -- stories everywhere.

And I’ll be able to focus on some things that area newspapers and their websites can’t or won’t, tell stories that Marshall needs to have told. More schools and conferences are moving annually to web-based reporting from inside their programs.

Marshall is stepping up and joining that bunch, and I’m happy to be the man selected to increase significantly the column inches on the program.

This effort isn’t just me, or Hamrick, or Kirtner. It’s you out there in Thundering Herd Nation, too. You can e-mail me at bogaczyk@marshall.edu. Good ideas are everywhere. I think Hamrick and Kirtner had one in creating a new position that can only enhance the Herd.